Routine

 We all have different routines, and plans in place to be successful in our goals. We all have different goals, with exception of IHC requirements, and we have different ideas of how to meet those goals. What defines success?

We talked about struggles with routines in our IHC meeting the other day. This is my 4th year in IHC, and I have learned many things, but the most important is probably defining success, for me. I’ve learned the hard way to be proud of the success I’m having, as it is not always based on the numbers. I’ve learned to be proud of progression, even if it’s small; even if I am not meeting my numbers goal. Of course the goal is to get to the desired number, but the journey is what is important. 

As for my routine, I started out in my first year with a rigid plan, everything set out day by day, week by week, and the times set in the day when I would complete everything.  I failed. Life happens, situations arise that we don’t ‘plan’ on. I made some adjustments in year 2, had a bit more success, but still not where I wanted to be.  Last year I switched up my routine to be a ‘fluid’ routine. Meaning I still have my daily and weekly goals, but instead of having a time set to do these requirements, I am now taking advantage of opportunities of time. This can be 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or more if it’s a really good day! I do set aside a few hours on the weekends to work specifically on my forms, and to make up numbers from the week if needed. Of course there is going to be weekends when this can’t happen, and that is okay. My biggest challenge to overcome was to not get down on myself. I would get frustrated that I wasn’t meeting my goals, and that would cause resentment, and then I would fall farther down the rabbit hole. I’m finding this new routine quite successful, and when I’m more positive, more opportunities present themselves. Funny how that works. Success can also be different for everyone, but I think we can all agree that as long as we are seeing progression, we are seeing some success.